Culture

a dark-skinned Black woman with a short, curly fro and big, bold pink earrings smiles on Pose FX

The Category Is “That Bitch”: Angelica Ross on Candy Ferocity’s Fierce Season 2 Turn

by Dr. Jon Paul
July 2, 2019 at 10:45am
This season, Candy still has had a lot to prove to a lot of people—and she’s not shying away from the challenge. Read more »
A photo of Kevin Keller, a gay white male teen character from Riverdale.

Swipe Left: When Marginalized TV Characters Turn to Dating Apps

by Hannah Steinkopf-Frank
June 28, 2019 at 10:26am
For marginalized characters, small-screen depictions of dating apps are more regressive than excitingly futuristic. Read more »
The cover of The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg, which features the two main characters, Max, a gay biracial Mexican baseball player, and Jordan, a gay poet.

A Queerer World: 2019 Is the Year of the LGBTQ YA Novel

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
June 26, 2019 at 2:12pm
This year, LGBTQ young adult novels have finally diversified the queer experience. Read more »
A photo of Quintessa Swindell, Kiana Madeira, Brianna Hildebrand, who play the main characters in the Netflix show Trinkets.

Finding Power: In Netflix’s “Trinkets,” Young Women Steal Their Way to Autonomy

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
June 24, 2019 at 3:10pm
The young women of Netflix’s “Trinkets” break laws, but build each other. Read more »
A photo of author Mason Deaver, who is white and non-binary, in promotion of their book "I Wish You All the Best." Mason wears a pink sweatshirt and is smiling.

Moving the Needle: Mason Deaver on Creating One of YA’s First Nonbinary Protagonists

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
June 21, 2019 at 3:21pm
In YA, nonbinary protagonists are rare. Mason Deaver seeks to change that with their debut, I Wish You All the Best. Read more »
a white teen wears a colorful bike helmet while sitting down

Spasms of Truth: “Sex Education” Disrupts Pop Culture’s Silence around Painful Sex

by Noa Fleischacker
June 21, 2019 at 12:31pm
Sex Education opens the door for women living with vaginismus and other conditions to have honest conversations about their symptoms. Read more »
an Asian couple walks through San Francisco together in Always Be My Maybe

Love, Factually: “Always Be My Maybe” Updates the Rom-Com Formula with Cultural Specificity and Heart

by Aline Dolinh
June 19, 2019 at 1:47pm
The best rom-coms make their predictability feel not like a weakness, but like a giddily essential pleasure. Read more »
Millie Bobby Brown and Sadie Sink smile at each other while holding ice cream cones on a school bus

BitchWatch: 10 TV Shows Feminists Should Watch this Summer

by Marina Watanabe
June 18, 2019 at 1:00pm
While the movie industry’s health remains in question, we can thankfully take refuge in television. Read more »
two white woman and a mixed-race woman hold hands in The Bold Type

Young and Free: “The Bold Type” is the Perfect Summer Show

by Evette Dionne
June 18, 2019 at 12:39pm
Each episode addresses and closes up issues in delightful and fantastical ways that keep rom-com enthusiasts tuning in each week. Read more »

Consumer Retorts: Are Anti-Hauls the Antidote to YouTube’s Cult of Consumerism?

by Andi Zeisler
June 18, 2019 at 9:00am
Swapping “whatever you are will never be enough” for “whatever you have will never be enough” is a lateral move at best. Read more »

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Best of Bitch

Will Filming the Police Keep Us Safe?

by Victoria Law
February 5, 2015 at 10:31am
There’s a cultural idea that having someone looking over our shoulder makes us behave better. From fake security cameras to Elf... Read more »

All Hail the Queen?: What Do Our Perceptions of Beyoncé's Feminism Say about us?

an illustration of a Black woman with long, flowing, blonde hair
by Tamara Winfrey Harris
Summer 2013 • Micro/Macro
The policing of feminist cred is the real moral contradiction. Read more »

Sojourner Truth, Unveiled

by Deesha Philyaw
April 29, 2009 at 2:58pm

The leaders of the [women's suffrage] movement trembled on seeing a tall, gaunt black woman in a gray dress and white turban,...

Read more »

Hot Under the Bonnet: The Cooptation of Amish Culture in Mass-Market Fiction

a blue and white illustration of a woman in Amish attire standing next to a fan and a chicken
by Audrey deCoursey
Spring 2014 • Maps & Legends
Dubbed “Amish romance novels,” “Amish fiction,” or the more waggish “bonnet rippers,” these novels just one entry point into the varying images of Amish communities in U.S. popular culture. Read more »